FREDERICK, Md. – Catholic softball opened up the 2023 campaign by splitting with Hood on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals rallied to tie it in the seventh in game one before ultimately falling short. In game two, the Catholic bats erupted for 16 runs on 13 hits in the victory. 

Game One – Catholic 3-4 Hood

Hood starting pitcher Jordan Long kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard until a dramatic seventh inning injected life into the Cardinal offense. The Blazers scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning before tacking on a third in the fifth, putting Catholic down 3-0 entering its final chance at the plate. 

Down to their final out, after the first two hitters of the inning were retired, the Cardinals rallied. Alex Garza started it with a single to center, advancing to third on a single from Sarah Spaeth. Amy Gastright entered the game as a pinch-hitter and singled to right, scoring Garza and bringing Catholic within two.

Caroline Adams replaced Gastright as a pinch-runner, putting some extra speed on the bases for the top of the Catholic order. With Adams on first and Spaeth on second, Sophia Fike ripped her second double of the game to left field, bringing in both runners and tying the game at 3-3. Amanda Gomez reached on an infield single, advancing Fike to third, but Long was able to retire Katie Scolese to keep the game knotted.

Rebecca Gottlieb doubled off of Olivia Stinchcomb in the bottom of the seventh to score Chloe Saunders and win game one for Hood. Fike and Gomez each had two hits for Catholic. Starting Pitcher Katie Hurd tossed 4.0 innings, allowing a pair of unearned runs, and striking out six. Stinchcomb (0-1) followed with 2.2 innings, allowing a pair of runs on three hits.

Game Two – Catholic 16-0 Hood (5 Innings)

The Cardinal bats got to work early and often in game two while Justina Benvenuto shut down the Blazers lineup in a blowout victory for Catholic in game two.

The Cardinals eased into the contest, scoring two runs in the first frame to take an early lead. Gomez singled to center with one out and moved over to third on the first double of Scolese's career. Aubrynn Arcement entered the lineup in game two and drew a free pass to load the bases for Spaeth. The senior third baseman brought home the game's first run with a sac fly to right, scoring Gomez. Toni Ruley followed with a single to right, scoring Scolese for a 2-0 Catholic lead.

After a 1-2-3 inning for Benvenuto, the Cardinals came back with six more runs on six hits in the second. Adams was hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position on a Fike single. Gomez doubled to center, scoring Adams and making it a 3-0 game. Scolese followed with her second consecutive double, scoring both Fike and Gomez to push the lead to five. Arcement brought home Scolese with a base knock to center. Now 6-0 with two outs, Bella Ronca singled to score Arcement and make it a seven-run game before Kaitlyn Murphy drove in Spaeth with a single to center.

Catholic piled on in the third with a little help from the Hood defense, getting eight runs on four hits with four Blazer errors.  The Cardinals pushed the lead to 10-0 with three consecutive errors from the Blazers. Spaeth drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to make it 11-0 before Ronca added another RBI single to make it 12-0, scoring Arcement. Catholic scored four more with two outs, getting an RBI single from Adams, a two-run double from Fike, and an RBI single from Gomez.

Benvenuto pitched 4.0 innings, allowing three hits and no runs with five strikeouts. Arcement pitched the final inning, striking out two.